Evaporator



H. E. CURTIS.

EVAPORATOR.

APPLICATION man JULY 6.1920.

Patented D0136, 192 L' 2 SHEETS-SHEET1.

FieuRE 1 INVENTOR ATTORNEY H. E. CURTIS.

EVAPORATOR.

A-PPL1CAT|0N FILED JULY 6, 1920 Patented 10 60, 6, 19231.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

FIGURE 2 INVENTOR ATTQRNEY UNIT STATES HENRY E. CURTIS, OF SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA.

nvarona'ron.

Application filed July 6, 1920.

To all who met may concern: i y a Be it known that 1, Harper E. CURTIS, a citizen of the United States, and resident of -Elan Jose, in the county of Santa Clara and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Evaporators, of which the following is a specilication.

My invention relates to evaporators for fruits, vegetables and the like. lit is the object of my invention to provide an evaporater for drying fruits, vegetables and the like that will be simple in operation, compact in form, of low manufacturing cost, of high practical efliciency, and that -will be capable of thoroughly drying a large quantity of material in a short space of time.

In the drawing Figure 'l is a vertical section through my improved evaporator.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 22 of l'leferring more particularly to the drawing, 1 indicates the foundation upon which is erecteda circular base 2 with an inwardly sloping upper portion 3 to form a bottom for the evaporator, and which is provided with a drain pipe t. concentrically positioned in base 2 is a pipe 5 extending from the base 1' through bottom 3 to a point 6 where it is fitted with an enlarged circular drum 7 having a comparativelysmall discharge outlet 8 in the top thereof. The lower end of pipe 5 communicates with a conduit 9 connected to a fan 10, operated by a motor 11, the said fan being supplied with dry hot air from any suitable source of supply not shown.

At 1212-12-12 are shown U bars secured to pipe In each quarter section of pipe 5 between bars 12 and vertically spaced therein are formed discharge openings 18, each openingbeing formed to discharge air in a horizontal plane and at an angle to the radii of the pipe 3, the four discharge openings in each set being directed uniformly in one direction.

At 1l-14:1a1 l are four more U bars arranged parallel with bars 12, spaced a dis tance therefrom and equally spaced around a circle with the pair on one side in alinement with the pair on the other side each pair .of bars 12 and M having a plurality of horizontal and equally spaced angle irons 15 mounted on each side thereof. These Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 6, 1921.

Serial No. 394,323;

parts are so arranged that each set of four pairs of angle irons l5 alternate with each set of four discharge openings 13. Trays l6-16-16-16 are formed to engage angle irons l5 and fit closely against pipe 5.

Mounted on each bar 14 and midway the length thereof is a bracket 17, the four brackets 17 supporting a circular member 18 having tracks 1920 formed in the upper surface thereof and 2l22 in its lower surface. Supported on radiating bars 23 on bars 12-1 l is a circular cap member 24; spaced a distance from drum 7 and having a discharge opening at 25. The outer edge of member 24 is provided with tracks 26- 27 in vertical alinement with tracks 1920 in the upper surface of member 18, and doors 2828-28-28 are mounted to slide in tracks 19-26 and 20-27 respectively.

The upper edge of base 2 is also provided with circular tracks as 2930 in vertical alinement with tracks 2l22 in the lower surface of member 18, and doors 31--3l 8131 are mounted to slide in tracks 2921 and 3032 respectively. The brackets 17 are so proportioned as to provide an open space 32 the full length of the evaporator between the trays therein and the doors thereof.

In operation hot dry air is forced upwardly into pipe 5 through conduit 9 by fan 10. This air is supplied in suiiicient quantity and under sufficient pressure to cause it to issue from each opening 13 with such force as to carry it outwardly between the trays positioned above and below it to the vertical annular. passage 32. But since these openings are angularly directed the four air currents from the four openings 13 create a spiral like movement of the air between the two layers of trays so that the said air travels over a considerable portion of the material in the trays before reaching the passage 32. Since it is the function of the dry warm air to extract the moisture content from the material placed in the trays this circular or spiral motion is of considerable value. First, because it carries the air over a large amount of fruit and is consequently well impregnated with moisture before reaching passage 32, and, secondly, because it creates a turbulence that effectually moves the air around each individual element of material placed in the trays thereby hastening the drying period by constantly and rapidly changing the air in contact with each of said individual elements.

The lower portion of the evaporator and doors 2S and 31 being closed the moisture laden air entering passage 32 must pass upwardly and is discharged at 25, any condensation of moisture on the walls of the device passing downwardly to bottom 3 and out through pipe 4.

By carrying drum 7 outwardly as shown a passage is formed whereby the up wardly moving air is carried along to discharge opening 25 without passing into a pocket where condensation would occur; Also since the drum is filled with hot air it keeps up the temperature in passage and thereby effectually prevents condensation until the moist air has been discharged from the evaporator.

It is clear that an eliicient evaporator must remove the moisture content from a large quantity of material in a short spaceof time, and all of the material must be uniformly dried with a minimum use of hot air. In most evaporators the air is moved over or through a large number of trays with the result that the first trays treated by the air are thoroughly dried while the trays to be treated last are not thoroughly dried because the air is so laden with moisture by the time it reaches them that it can take up but little additional moisture.

In my invention a supply of fresh dry airis moved over each layer of four trays therefore the bottom layer receives exactly the same treatment as the top and intermediate layers with the result that all of the material in the evaporator receives exactly the same treatment and is discharged in a uniform' condition. In the structure disclosed the trays are quickly and easily placed in position or removed from the evaporator, the door for one quarter section sliding around over the door of an adjoining quarter section during the process of placing and removing the trays. The evaporator may be made almost entirely of sheet metal and'is capable of handling a large quantity of material in a very small space.

Trays 16 are petferably made of sheet metal with wire mesh bottoms so that the air can circulate freely around the contents thereof.

It is to be understood that whileI-have herein shown and described one particular embodiment of my invention it is to be considered as illustrative only, and that changes in form, proportions, construction and method of operation may be made within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim 1. An evaporator including a. chamber having a discharge opening therein, an air conduit concentrically arranged therein,

means for supporting a plurality of vertically spaced trays in said chamber and about said conduit, said conduit having openings formed therein communicating with said chamber, and means for imparting a spiral motion to the air discharged through said openings.

2. An evaporator including a chan'lbcr having a discharge opening therein, an air conduit concentrically arranged therein, means for supporting a plurality of trays in spaced vertical relation to each other about said conduit and in spaced relation to the wall of said chamber, and means for discharging air from said conduit between said vertically spaced trays and thence to the space between the wall of the chamber and the trays.

3. An evaporator including a chamber having a discharge opening in the upper portion thereof, a centrally arranged air conduit therein, an enlarged chamber communicating with said conduit and spaced a distance from the top of said first mentioned chamber to form a passage therebctween, a plurality of trays arranged about said conduit below said enlarged chamber and in spaced vertical relation to each other, and means fo discharging air from the conduit between the trays.

4. An evaporator including a chamber having a discharge opening in the upper portion thereof, a centrally arranged air conduit therein, an enlarged chamber communicating with said conduit and spaced a distance from the top of said. first mentioned chamber and provided with an opening discharging into said first mentioned opening, aplurality of trays arranged about said conduit below said enlarged chamber and in spaced vertical relation to each other, and means for discharging air from said conduit between said spaced trays.

An evaporator including a chamber having a. discharge opening in the upper portion thereof, a ccntrall y arranged air conduit therein, an enlarged chamber communicating with said conduit and spaced a distance from the top of said first mentioned chamber and provided with a discharge opening smaller than said conduit, aplurality of trays arranged about said conduit below said enlarged chamber and in spaced vertical relation to each other and spaced a distance from the wall of said first mentioned chamber, and means for discharging air from said conduit between said spaced trays.

6. An evaporator including a circular base, a framework thereon, sliding doors supported by said base and framework to form an inclosed chamber, a top supported on said framework and having a discharge opening therein, an air conduit centrally arranged in said framework and having a discharge Outlet at its upper end, a plurality of vertically spaced trays arranged on said framework, and means for discharging air from said air conduit between said spaced trays.

7. An evaporator including a chamber having a discharge opening in the upper portion thereof, an air conduit concentrically arranged therein and having a discharge opening at the upper end thereof, a plurality of sets of vertically spaced and radially arranged tray supports extending from said conduit and terminating a distance from the wall of said chamber, a plurality of trays arranged in horizontal planes on said tray supports, and means for discharging air from said conduit between the trays on successive planes.

8. An evaporator including a chamber having a discharge opening in the upper portion thereof, an air conduit concentrically arranged therein and having a discharge opening at the upper end thereof, a plurality of sets oi vertically spacedand radially arranged tray supports extending from said conduit and terminating a distance from the Wall of said chamber, a plurality of trays arranged in horizontal planes on said tray supports, said conduit having a plurality of laterally directed openings formed therein between the trays on successive planes.

9. An evaporator including a chamber having a discharge opening in the upper portion thereof, an air conduit concentrically arranged therein and having a discharge opening at the upper end thereof, a plurality of sets of vertically spaced and radially arranged tray supports extending from said conduit, a plurality oi? trays arranged in horizontal planes on said tray supports, said conduit having a plurality of laterally directed openings formed therein between the trays on successive planes arranged and directed to impart a spiral motion to the air discharged therefrom.

HENRY n, CURTIS. 

